Register Now for CALA Speaker Series: Describing Chinese Rare Books and Cultural Heritage Collections on Feb. 23

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), the Wikidata Chinese Cultural Heritage Group, the recipient of CALASYS Collection Grant Special Recognition, partners with CALASYS to host a speaker series: Describing Chinese Rare Books and Cultural Heritage Collections. The goals of the webinar series are to provide useful resources, to help build knowledge in Chinese rare materials cataloging, and to facilitate the discussions surrounding challenges and opportunities of describing Chinese cultural heritage collections in the linked data environment.

We are very pleased to announce that the first event of the series will take place on Feb. 23, from 10 am to 11 am (PST). The presenter will be Jackie Shieh, Descriptive Data Management Librarian at Smithsonian Libraries & Archives. Jackie will share the reasons and motivations for the selection of Wikidata as a platform for connecting users to the collections of the Smithsonian Libraries & Archives. She will discuss the advantages of using Wikidata, including its visualization options and potential for linking collections within and outside the Smithsonian. Additionally, Jackie will share the challenges that the Smithsonian Libraries & Archives team has encountered in describing the Chinese Ancestors Portraits from the Museum of Asian Art in Wikidata, and their decision-making progress. Smithsonian Libraries & Archives’ wiki page and blog document their Wikidata projects and overall Wikidata experience.

The webinar is open to everyone who’s interested. Please consider joining us on Feb. 23, RSVP here. Feel free to share this invitation with your colleagues.

Look forward to seeing you!

Greta Heng
On behalf of Wikidata Chinese Cultural Heritage Group

CALASYS Committee
Sai Deng, Suzhen Chen, Weiling Liu, Xiaoli Ma